


Nakama Part One: Long Lost Friends

by Fanfictionneer



Series: Nakama [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:55:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26931751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanfictionneer/pseuds/Fanfictionneer
Summary: 'It's terrible to lose someone, especially when you're so young. It feels good to know that there is someone nearby who has been through the same thing. I wouldn't dare to want someone to go through something so traumatizing. But it's good to know that there is someone close you can talk to about it, who really understands what it feels like. You think that too, don't you, Luffy?'
Series: Nakama [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965115
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. Welcome home!

It was a beautiful day on the Thousand Sunny, in the New World. Everyone was tired because the Marines have been attacking them constantly. So Nami had a good idea to be able to get some rest.

“Everyone, I have a great idea!” she called out, gaining the rests attention.

“How about we have some vacation?” she continued.

Everyone nodded in agreament, even Luffy for some strange reason. You would think that he wanted to go on another adventure…

“Good idea Nami!” Usopp said “But where do we go then?” 

Everyone started to think about a good location for their break.

“What about Drum Kingdom! Then we can pay a visit to Doctorine.” Chopper suggested.

“That’s too cold…” Nami answered.

“What about Alabasta, then we can see Vivi-chan again!” Sanji exclaimed, noodling around.

“I would love to, but they’re still rebuilding and other important stuff.” Nami answered.

“Eh? Two years later and they’re still not done? They are slow…” Luffy said.

“Oh! I know! Shishishi” he continued.

“Well, where do you want to go captain-san?” Robin asked.

“It’s a place where none of you guys ever been before, it has lots of meat too!”

“And that place is?” Franky asked.

“My home island! The Goa Kingdom!” the idiotic captain exclaimed.

“Wow, actually have a good idea Luffy.” Nami said. “Everyone else agrees?”

“We have to go out of the Grand Line, but with some coup-the-bursts when can get there in no time.” Franky agreed as he remembered that they told him that Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji came from East Blue, though Sanji was originally born in North Blue.

“Sure why not, I would like to know where this idiot lives.” Sanji the love cook agreed, pointing at his captain.

“I agree with the shitty cook for once.” Zoro said and Sanji shot a glare at him.

“Watch what you say Marimo!” Sanji growled and he was about to attack but got punched by none other than Nami.

“I’m sorry Nami-swaaan!” he apoligised being himself.

“Heh-heh, you deserved that one.” Zoro said with a smirk but got punched too.

“AND YOU DESERVE ONE TOO!” she shouted.

The rest of the crew laughed at the scene.

After the little interruption, the others also agreed.

“Yosh, to the Fuushia Village!” Luffy shouted and they started their journey to Luffy’s hometown by flying away with a Coup-de-burst.  
Near the island

“We’re here!” Luffy exclaimed.

Everyone else looked towards the island.

“So this is where you live! So cool!” Chopper called out.

“It looks SUUUPERRR!” Franky exclaimed, doing his well-known pose.

“I know right! It’s really awesome! Shishishishi.” Luffy grinned.

“My eyes are truly enjoying the view. Oh… I don’t have eyes! Yohohohohoho, Skull Joke!” Brook joked, only making Luffy, Usopp and Chopper laugh.

The Thousand Sunny docked in the small docks and everyone got off the ship. All the villagers looked wide-eyed at Luffy and his crew, the famous rookie who was born and grew up in the tiny village had returned.  
As the crew walked through the streets of the village and the people all stepped aside and greeted and cheered for them and Luffy smiled and waved back.

“Looks like they all now you.” Usopp noted.

“Of course they know him, who doesn’t? All of them probably knew him before we did.” Zoro said.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” 

“Where are we going anyway?” Sanji asked.

“You’ll see.” Luffy answered.

The crew continued walking and reached a pub Luffy knew all to well.

“I’m back!!!” he yelled as he and his crew entered the small pub.

Everyone in the cafe looked at them.

“Luffy, is that you?” Someone asked, coming out of a small room in the back of the pub.

“Makino!” Luffy exclaimed with a big smile on his face.

“It really is you!” the bartender exclaimed and ran over to Luffy and gave him a big hug.

“Who’s that?” Chopper whispered.

“How should I know?” Nami whispered back.

“You’ve grown so much Luffy, just look at you!” Makino said, as she ended the hug to have a better look at Luffy.

“And you haven’t changed at all. Shishishishi.” Luffy grinned.

“Who is this beautiful lady~?” Sanji asked, acting like…well…Sanji.

“This is Makino, she works in this pub and Ace and I often came here to eat or she would come to visit us.” The Straw Hat captain responded, still with a big grin on his face. But his happy expression soon changed when he saw Makino and the others expressions when he had mentioned Ace.

‘Ace, Sabo…’ the boy thought with a sad look plastered on his face.

The smiles of the other people in the small tavern disappeared as well as they remembered how the duo, and trio, in the beginning, were always playing, pranking people and eating at the towns restaurants until they were out of food and without paying, with neverending smiles.

Nami walked up to Luffy and broke the silence. “Luffy, two years ago, you were always talking about Ace. About how strong he was, how he always beat you when you were young, even without a Devil Fruit , and many other things. You could see that you were very proud of him. But since we reunited, you haven’t said anything about him at all, not even once……You’re still hurt inside, aren’t you?” she asked on a warm, but sad tone.

Luffy was looking at the ground. And suddenly, he ran out of the pub.

“Luffy!” Usopp yelled after his captain.

The sniper and Chopper were about to run after him, but they were stopped by Makino. “Don’t go after him, he needs to be alone for a while. It takes a long time for Luffy to get over things…”

Usopp and Chopper nodded in response, understanding the situation their captain was in.

“How do you know how much time Luffy-san needs to be alone, that depends on the person, doesn’t it Makino-san?” Robin aksed the bartender.

Makino sighed. “He has lost someone before… Then, he cried all night….” She told the crew with a sad expression on her face.

Everyone’s eyes widened.

“He did? Why didn’t he tell us? Who?” Chopper asked a bit shocked.

“I think he didn’t because it’s to painful for him, but I’m sure he will tell you sooner or later.” Makino answered. “I can tell, he really cares alot about all of you.”

Luffy was sitting on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the blue sea. It was the same cliff where he, Ace and Sabo often went to look at ships passing by. The sky was slowly turning orange, as the sun was dissapearing behind the sea.

‘Ace, Sabo…’ he thought again. A few tears began to roll down his cheeks. He took something out of his pocket and looked at it. It was a picture of him and his brothers, smiling. Luffy was standing in the middle with a big grin on his face, in between his two big brothers.

‘Nami was right, I’m still not over it…’ More tears began to flow and his crying became a bit louder, his shoulders shaking and sobs escaping from his mouth. Ace died two years ago and he still wasn’t over it, he still blamed himself for what happened on that terrible day in Marineford. But what Jinbe said back then did help him a lot: he wasn’t alone, he still had his friends. They’re always there for him and they always will be. 

Two years ago, when Luffy was alone and no one could hear him, he cried for Sabo and now, he also cried for Ace. He had lost both his brothers who meant alot to him. The last living member of ASL.

In the pub, the crew and Makino were eating and talking, but someone other than Luffy was missing.

Chopper looked around. “Where is Nami?” the young reindeer, who was sitting next to Sanji at the fairly large table, asked.

“She went after Luffy.” The blonde cook answered.

“Eh?! I thought we were supposed to leave him alone!” Chopper said.

“I told her where Luffy should be.” Makino spoke up.

“Why?”

“Because she asked me. Maybe he does need someone to talk to after all…” the bartender responded.

“Why did Nami ask?” Chopper asked the woman.

“Because she thinks it’s her fault.” Sanji responded in Makino’s place, since she didn’t know herself. “And she also knows this kind of pain, she has been through this too.”

“Oh yeah, I heard about that from Usopp when I joined the crew. He told me everything that happened since he started travelling with you.” The blue-nosed reindeer remembered, looking out of one of the small windows of the tavern.

On the cliff, Luffy was still crying a little, still looking at the picture.

“So that’s the other person Makino-san was talking about.” He heard someone say.

He recognised the voice, the warm voice with a breath that smelled like Mikans. It was Nami and she was looking at the picture over Luffy’s shoulder.

“How did you know I was here?” the captain asked with a sad and creaking voice.

“Makino told me.” Nami said on a gentle and kind tone and sat down next to her friend.

She looked at Luffy, who was still looking at the picture of his brothers, the boy was totally broken.

‘Poor Luffy…’

She had never seen her captain like this. When Usopp left, it was bad, but this is even worse. 

Luffy suddenly stopped crying. Was he trying to hide his tears and sadness from others?

“Are you okay?” Nami asked, worried about her friend.

Luffy didn’t say anything.

“Why? Why did they have to die?” he then spoke up after a short moment of silence, while still hiding his tears.

“Well, those things just happen…” the navigator answered. She looked at her friend again with a sad look on her face. “Luffy, it’s okay to cry…” she continued, looking at the sunset. Luffy looked at her with wide eyes. Then, tears started flowing down his cheeks once again. 

Nami saw this and put her arm around his shoulder to comfort him. Suddenly, Luffy pulled the navigator into a hug, he obviously needed that. Nami was a bit surprised by her captain, but she soon hugged him back. The two sat there for a while, getting comfort from each other.

“Thank you….Nami….” Luffy said, sounding a little better.

“It’s nothing. I know how you feel.” Nami told the young man as they ended the hug.

Nami looked up at the orange sky again. “You know, crying is okay, but you have to get over it. I think they wouldn’t like to see you like this, this isn’t like you.”

“I think you’re right.”

Luffy’s tears stopped flowing again, but this time, he had gone over it. He didn’t want Ace and Sabo to see their little brother cry.

“So, do you want to tell me more about that other person?” 

“Okay.” Luffy responded, now with much less sadness in his voice. “His name is Sabo, he was my other brother.” He started. “When I was seven, not too long after Shanks gave me his hat, Gramps brought me to a hideout of mountainbandits, not far from here. The leaders name’s Dadan, she’s big and scary, but she took good care of us. That’s where I first met Ace. In the beginning, he always ran off into the forest and didn’t want to have anything to do with me. I kept following him and after a lot of trying, I could finally keep up with him. By following him, I reached the other side of the forest: Grey Terminal. That’s where I met Sabo. He and Ace were already friends and they robbed people in the town and in Grey Terminal itself. First, I was only in the way and they didn’t like me, but when some pirates caught me and were trying to get me to tell them where all the stolen money was, they came to save me. After all of that, the three of us shared cups of Sake and we became brothers. We kept stealing from the people of Grey Terminal.”

“Why did you rob people?”

“The money we stole was for our pirate funds, we wanted to buy a ship with it.” Luffy answered with his typical grin.

Nami was glad that her friends kind and warm smile was back. She had missed it. That smile changed people and was always able to cheer everyone up.

“Heh, I should’ve known.” The girl said and smiled back.

“So we kept robbing people, fighting the wild animals in the forest, building our own treehouse that looked like a pirateship, training with an old guy we ran into who used to be a pirate and irritate Dadan.”

“Wow, you sure had alot of freedom.” Nami remarked.

“Well, it was fun until one day, pirates were ordered by Sabo’s dad to bring his son back. They attacked us in Grey Terminal and they and Sabo’s dad took Sabo away from us and brought him back to his boring life as a noble in the upper city. That was the last time I saw him.”

“Poor guy…”

“Apparently, Sabo managed to escape one day and he wanted to go out at sea. But it was also the same day that a Celestial Dragon came to visit the city. Sabo’s small boat passed the Celestial Dragons huge ship.”

‘Celestial Dragon?!’ Nami thought shocked.

“And then… That Celestial Dragon fired at Sabo’s boat. That’s what Dogura, one of the mountainbandits who saw it happening, told me…”

“So that why you hate Celestial Dragons so much… And that’s also why you punched that Celestial Dragon at Saboady Archipellago, instead of jumping in front of Hachi or knocking the gun out of that guys hand.”

Luffy nodded silently.

Nami looked at Luffy with a sad expression plastered on her face once again. ‘It’s terrible to lose someone, especially when you’re so young. It kinda feels good to know that there is someone nearby who has been through the same thing, but of course, I wouldn’t dare to want someone to go through something so traumatising. But it’s good to know that there is someone close you can talk to about it, who really understands what it feels like. You think that too, don’t you, Luffy?’ she thought.

“So do you want to go back Luffy?” she then asked.

“Yeah, I hope they’re not going to drown me in questions.” Luffy joked. He was back to his normal, cheerful self, much to Nami’s relief.


	2. Let's Go! To the Secret Hideout!

In Makino’s pub, the Strawhats, minus Luffy and Nami, and Makino were waiting for the captain and the navigator to return.

“I hope they’ll be back soon, I’m kinda worried.” Usopp spoke up.

“Yeah, me too.” Chopper agreed.

Then, as if on que, Nami entered the pub with Luffy following close behind. The group looked up at them.

Nami smiled and waved at them. “Hey everyone, we’re back!”

Luffy smiled lightly and scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, sorry that I kept you waiting.” 

The rest smiled, stood up from their seats and walked up to the duo. And, like Luffy had feared, he was being drowned in questions from his worried Nakama: Questions such as “Where did you go?” or “Are you alright?” were flying everywhere, all at the same time, making Luffy confused and unable to answer.

“Shut up you idiots!” Nami suddenly burst out, making the group grow silent. “He can’t answer if everyone’s throwing questions at him at the same time!”

Then, Chopper walked closer to Luffy until he was standing right in front of him. The little reindeer looked up at the person he admired so much for almost everything he does. “Are you alright Luffy?” he asked innocently and quietly with a worried and kind of sad expression on his adorable furry face.

Luffy smiled warmly, crouched and put his hand on the reindeer’s head. “Yes, I’m okay Chopper, don’t worry.”

The crew smiled at this.

Chopper looked at his captain, smiled and nodded. Then, the young doctor walked back to the rest.

Luffy grinned and scratched the back of his head. “Heheh, sorry to worry you guys.”

“It’s nothing captain.” Zoro replied.

“Yeah, it could’ve happened with anybody.” Usopp agreed.

“We completely understand Luffy-san.” Robin finished with a smile.

“Thanks you guys.” Luffy thanked his nakama with a warm smile etched on his face. He was really grateful to his friends, he would have never been able to get as far as he had without them. They were always there for him, supporting him and keeping him going. They were the best crew he could have ever wished for.

“You really have made some great friends Luffy.” Makino spoke up with a smile.

Luffy grinned brightly. “I know right?!”

The crew smiled again, they were glad that their captain and friend was alright and back to normal again.

“Now, let’s eat!” The rubberman exclaimed loudly, making the others agree just as loudly.

And so, they all had a big dinner together. The food had been prepared by Sanji as usual. Though at first, Makino had offered to cook, but then Sanji insisted that he do it, telling the bartender that a beautiful young lady such as herself shouldn’t bother cooking for such 'ruffians' when he was there so she couldn’t do anything but give in to his offer. During dinner itself, the usual things happened: Luffy, Usopp and Chopper playing with their food, then Luffy starting to steal everyones food, Luffy earning himself a beating from Nami, followed by Chopper patching him up again, only for the young captain to earn himself another beating from their navigator shortly after, yet again followed by some more medical attention. Then there was Zoro filling himself with Sake and then starting a fight with Sanji, only ending up with them also getting some ass-kicking from Nami and some band-aids on their face afterwards. Everyone was laughing and having fun. They also explained to Makino why they were here and Luffy told her about all his adventures he had together with his friends. It was already dark for quite a while by the time their little feast came to an end and it was about time for the crew to get some sleep.

“You can sleep here, there is room enough.” Makino suggested to the Strawhats.

“No thanks Makino, I already have a good place to sleep.” Luffy reacted.

“You have?” Nami asked her captain.

Luffy nodded with a grin plastered on his face on his face. “Yeah! We still have to walk a pretty long way ‘till we get there though.”

Makino smiled brightly. She knew where Luffy was referring to. “Ah, I know what you are talking about Luffy, that’s a great idea.”

“Shishishi, thanks!”

“Huh, where are we going then?” Usopp asked. He and the rest of the crew were really starting to get curious.

“You’ll see when we get there.” The captain answered.

“Well, make sure you’ll come over some time while you are still here.” Makino spoke up again with another smile on her face.

“We will!” Luffy replied with the grin on his face once again.

“Alright then, have fun!’

“Thanks Makino! See you soon.” Luffy said happily while already beginning to walk in the direction of the crew’s next destination.

Makino’s smile widened as she waved goodbye to them. “Bye Luffy, everyone!”

“Bye!” The crew greeted the kind bartender, following after their captain, some more enthusiastically or filled with (pervy) love than the others.

After they were out of sight, Makino’s smile grew warmer. “Luffy sure has grown. He made some great friends too.” She said to herself before re-entering her pub to go to sleep.

Meanwhile, the Strawhats had already reached the end of Fuusha Village and started their way up the hills and small Mountains of the island. Luffy’s nakama were really wondering where they were going, especially now that they had left the village.

“Oi Luffy, where are we going?” Franky asked.

“Just wait and see.”

And so, without any more questions, the 9 pirates continued their way towards their currently unknown destination where they would spend the night.

After another while of walking, they reached the island’s enormous, green forest.

Luffy’s friends eyed it strangly. “Are we seriously going to spend the night in the forest?” Zoro asked.

“Like I said before, wait and see.” Luffy replied.

“Alright, alright.” Zoro muttered.

“You guys should be careful when we enter the forest, it’s full of awesome and big animals and monsters.” Luffy explained with a grin decorating his face.

“M-monsters? B-b-big animals?” Usopp stuttered, being his usual, cowardly self.

Luffy’s grin widened. “Yeah!”

“B-b-b-but isn’t that d-dangerous?”

“Sure.”

“B-but I h-have I’m-scared-of-big-animals-and-monsters-itis!”

Luffy laughed. “You’re really funny Usopp!”

Usopp puffed up his chest in (fake-)pride. “Thank you.” He stated with a more manly-sounding tone, but soon, he turned scared again. “O-oi! But it’s not funny at all! I-it’s scary!”

“You don’t know until you see it yourself!” Luffy exclaimed loudly with the grin back on his face and started walking into the forest, the rest of the crew, minus Usopp, following him close behind.

“O-oi! W-wait for me!!!” Usopp yelled and ran after them.

And so, they started walking through the large forest, filled with all kinds of dangerous animals. They were lucky enough not to run into too many of them on the way to their destination, only creatures such as insects ten times their normal size or bears and of course, these animals were nothing to the Strawhats and beat all of them the very second they ran into them. Then, they finally reached their destination. They walked on to a fairly large clearing in the middle of the forest. The crew looked up at the largest tree around with awe. Luffy smiled warmly. It was the treehouse Luffy had built together with Ace and Sabo.

“Woah~! It’s so big!” Usopp, Brook and Chopper exclaimed enthousiastically with stars shining brightly in their eyes.

Luffy grinned. “Shishishi, I know right?!”

“Did you build this?” Nami asked.

Luffy nodded. “Yeah, together with Ace and Sabo.”

Nami smiled.

“Sabo?” the rest of the crew wondered.

“Oh yeah, I didn’t tell the rest of you guys yet, did I?”

They shook their heads.

Luffy smiled. “Sabo was my other older brother.”

“Ah, so it’s the other person Makino mentioned.” Robin spoke up.

Nami nodded. “Yeah, Luffy told me.”

Luffy reached into his pocket and took out the picture he'd been looking at when he was sitting on the cliff and showed it to his friends. “Here he is.”

The crewmembers came closer to look at the picture in their captain's hand.

“Oh, he looks like a really nice guy.” Franky commented.

“Yeah, was he a nice person Luffy?” Chopper asked curiously.

Luffy smiled. “Yeah, he sure was.” He said. Then he remembered something and chuckled lightly. “Heheh, I always called him the nice brother and I called Ace the mean brother.”

“Eh?! Ace was the mean brother?!” the crew uttered surprised.

A grin plastered itself on Luffy’s face as he nodded.

“But how? Ace was such a nice and polite guy.” Nami reacted surprised. She’d always known Ace as a kind and polite person since they met him in Alabasta.

“That’s because we grew up and Makino taught him.”

“Makino-san taught Ace?”

“Yeah, she taught him how to be polite.” Luffy replied. Then he laughed lightly. “It was really weird and funny in the beginning.”

“Fufufufu, interesting.” Robin giggled, characteristically holding her hand in front of her mouth as she giggled.

“Anyway Luffy, how old were you guys when you built this treehouse?” Franky asked his friend, eyeing the large wooden structure in the tree.

“I was 7 and Ace and Sabo were 10 years old.”

“Wow, and you were able to build this thing all by yourselves?” Nami spoke up again.

“Yeah, we really worked hard on it!”

“Cool~!” Chopper uttered in pure amazement and admiration.

“So we’re going to sleep up there?” Sanji asked.

Luffy nodded. “Yep!”

Then the Super Nova Rookie looked at the old treehouse and noticed that everything was still in perfect shape, which really surprised him. It was like it was never left and that someone had been taking care of it and keeping it clean. ‘Maybe Dadan and the others?’ Luffy wondered in his head. ‘I should go see them tomorrow and ask.’ He noted to himself before turning to look at the others again. “Alright, let’s climb up!” Luffy exclaimed enthousiastically while pumping his fists high in the air. 

The others agreed and they climbed up and entered the large treehouse.

“Wow, there’s actually quite a lot of room up here.” Usopp commented, looking around in the fairly large room.

“Yeah, there’s more than enough room for all of us.” Zoro agreed.

“Do you have pillows and blankets here Luffy?” Robin asked her captain.

“Of course I do.” Luffy replied and walked up to a cabin, opening it and taking out a bunch of blankets and pillows.

The Strawhats all picked a spot to sleep and laid out the blankets. They got under the covers and fell asleep, some quicker than others.

Luffy thought of his brothers before drifting off to sleep. ‘Ace, Sabo…’

The next morning, Nami woke up pretty early. When she looked around, she saw that everyone was still sleeping, even Robin, which was weird and kind of scary to see. She had never seen Robin sleep before, every time Nami would wake up, Robin was always awake and reading one of her many books. Seeing the archaeologist sleeping must mean that she got up REALLY early. The way Robin slept was kind of creepy too: she was just lying on her back and not moving an inch which almost made it seem like she was dead.

‘She’s still breathing….right?’ Nami thought. When she looked around the room again, she noticed that someone was missing. ‘Where is Luffy?’ she wondered. She then noticed that there was a ladder going up, which she hadn’t noticed before. She got out of the covers and quitely tiptoed to the ropeladder. She climbed up and when she reached the top, she saw that Luffy was standing up there, watching the still dark sky. 

Luffy sensed her and turned to look at her with a smile. “Hey Nami, you’re up early. Can’t sleep?”

“I just woke up.” Nami replied as she walked up to him. “You?”

“The same as you, I woke up too early.”

Nami nodded and leaned on the railing of the crowsnest they were in and looked up at the sky, which was now slowly starting to turn orange with the sunrise. “The view from here is really beautiful.”

“Yeah.” Luffy agreed. “We’re on the top of the biggest tree of the forest after all.”

“Yeah.” Nami agreed. She looked around her. She could see the entire island from up here. She saw the ocean, the forest and Fuusha Village too. Then, she looked at the other side of the island and spotted a large city. “Oh, is that the Grey Terminal you were talking about?”

Luffy followed her gaze. “Yep, that’s it.”

“It really is big.”

“It is, it’s really easy to get lost there.”

Nami giggled. “Then we have to keep a VERY good eye on Zoro.” She joked.

Luffy laughed. “Yeah, good idea.”

“So what are we going to do today Luffy?” Nami asked after Luffy’s laughter died down.

“First of all, I want to go hunting in the forest for our breakfast.”

“Hunt?”

Luffy nodded. “Yeah, of course!”

“When are you going to do that?”

“When some of the others are awake.” Luffy said. Then he walked up to the the hole in the crowsnest that went down and put his head in it. He looked around and saw that some of the guys were up.

Luffy pulled his head back up. “Some of them are awake so we can go right now.”

Nami nodded. “Good idea.”


	3. Hunting Time!

The ones who had already woken up were now standing in the clearing at the treehouse. The ones who had now also woken up were Sanji, Franky, Chopper and Robin. They decided that someone had to stay in the treehouse with the rest to tell them where the others are when they wake up, and the one who was going to have this task was Nami. The rest of them were going out hunting for their breakfast with Luffy. 

The group of five walked through the forest, with Luffy in the lead since he knew the place like the back of his hand. They manoeuvred around trees and other foliage for a while before they finally spotted something edible: A boar, a very big boar. 

“Wow, that’s a superrrrr big boar!” Franky remarked, looking up to the huge thing from behind a tree.

“Indeed it is.” Robin agreed.

Luffy grinned. “Let’s catch it, I want meat!” he spoke up before stretching his arms and grabbing onto the enormous boar, who noticed and started to jump and run around in the hopes of trying to pry Luffy off.

Luffy laughed. “You’re a funny boar!” he commented loudly and wound his legs around the 20m tall boar. He suddenly leaned harshly to the left, making him and the boar flip over. The rubber man let go and jumped out of the way just in time, before he got squashed by the huge animal. Not that it would do anything though.

“FOOD!!!” he exclaimed and the rest sweatdropped before they walked up to their captain to help out with cutting the boar up to bring the meat back to the treehouse. 

Meanwhile, at the treehouse, Nami was sitting at the window looking outside since she didn’t have anything better to do that wouldn’t wake the others up. She suddenly felt tapping on her shoulder and almost jumped up in surprise. She bit her lip to not let out a shocked squeak and turned to look who the person was who dared to scare her like that. “Brook, you scared me!” she whisper-yelled. 

“Ah, I apologise Nami-san, I had no intention to, yohohoho.” Brook replied sheepishly.

Nami sighed lightly. “It’s fine, did you sleep well?”

“Yes, I had a good night’s sleep, thank you. And you Nami-san?” the skeleton spoke quietly as he sat down next to the navigator.

“I woke up early, but I did sleep well.”

“Ah, that is good to hear.” Brook reacted and looked around the treehouse. “Where are the others, may I ask?”

“They’re out hunting for our breakfast while I keep watch over here.”

“I see, yohohoho.”

The two sat there for a while, Zoro and Usopp still fast asleep and snoring loudly, much to Nami’s dismay. Soon enough, Luffy and the others who’d gone along on the small hunting trip reached the clearing around the treehouse, caring a huge haul of meat and other food with them. 

Brook looked at them through the window of the wooden structure. “Yohohoho, that is a lot of food~” he commented. 

Luffy had heard the voice and looked up, grinning widely. “Yo Brook! Yeah, we’ve got lots of yummy food!” he called back cheerfully. “Are Zoro and Usopp awake yet?!” he yelled, making Nami facepalm.

“You’re waking them up by yelling like that, so of course, you idiot!!!” she yelled back, louder than her captain had.

Nami’s loud shouting was what had actually woken up the two sleeping crewmembers.

“Oi, don’t shout so early in the morning you witch…” Zoro grumbled annoyed.

Nami glared at the swordsman. “It’s already around 11 you idiot!” she yelled. “And I’m not a witch!!!”

Usopp sat up and ran a hand through his hair. “Oi, oi, be more quiet, you’re giving me a headache…” he mumbled sleepily. 

Luffy had heard and laughed as he entered the treehouse. “You’re so funny Usopp~!” he uttered, oblivious as ever. “Get up, it’s time for food!!! I’m starving!”

A while later, the whole crew sat around a big fire they’d made in the middle of the clearing as Sanji prepared their breakfast. Of course, they were not planning to use all the food from their huge haul for breakfast, so they had to keep a close eye on their captain to make sure that plan would still be applicable.

Luckily, they were successful for once, but only because they’d insisted to Luffy that they should hurry up and do something on the island, to which the strawhat couldn’t say no. After they’d securely put the food away in the treehouse, and also putting some of it in their backpacks, the captain decided that they would go to Dadan’s house to see how she was doing.

Luffy grinned as they walked through the forest, his hands behind his head. “Shishishi~ I wonder how she’s doing, she’s probably as grumpy as always~”

“Well, we’ll see soon enough, because I see a house over there.” Sanji reacted. “Is that her house?”

“Yep!” Luffy replied.

Sanji then leaned closer to his captain and whispered in his ear. “So tell me Luffy, is she a beautiful lady?”

Luffy chuckled. “I dunno, I’m not you Sanji.” He replied just as they reached the door.

The weird-eyebrowed cook closed his eyes and silently hoped and prayed in his head as they stood in front of the door, with Luffy probably planning to just walk in and yell that he was back. ‘Please be a beautiful lady, please be a beautiful lady, please be a beautiful lady...’

Before the black-haired pirate captain could storm in however, the door was slammed open, almost hitting him in the face. Sanji opened his eyes, hoping to see a beautiful lady, perhaps in a maid-outfit, or in distress so he could save the damsel, but no, much to his disgust and horror, the woman in the door-opening was not beautiful, not at all. His face turned slightly green, and it got even worse when he heard her scruffy voice yell at Luffy. 

“Oi, shitty brat, when the hell did you get here?!” she shouted, loud and grumpy as always, though on the inside, she was happy to see the young man. Not that she’d ever admit that.

“Shishishi, I got here yesterday!” Luffy replied, completely resistant to Dadan’s intimidating aura and ‘not-prettiness’. Either that, or just completely oblivious.

“And why did you decide to show your ass here?”

“Because I wanted to see how ya were doing!”

“Yeah right.”

Luffy chuckled, while the crew watched quietly, a bit scared of the ginormous woman in front of them.

“Luffy!” another voice spoke from behind the large, broad figure that was Dadan.

Luffy stretched his neck to look behind Dadan and grinned more. “Dogura! It’s been a while!”

“It sure has!”

After that, they went inside, Luffy being welcomed by the other mountain bandits like a little brother, giving him a noogie or patting him on the back, the young pirate grinning the entire time.

“Hey Dadan, I wanna ask you something.” Luffy then spoke.

“Hm? What is it kid?” Dadan asked with her gruffy voice.

“Are you the one who keeps the old treehouse in good shape?”

“The treehouse?” the big lady asked with a raised eyebrow. “It’s still there, all well?”

Luffy nodded. “Yeah, but I thought you would be the one who took care of it.”

“Well, you were wrong, it’s not me, so some other random person’s probably taking care of it or somethin’.”

“But who would do that? That person should have a reason for keeping it in shape.” Nami spoke up.

Dadan shrugged. “I dunno who it could be.”

Luffy thought, which was very rare. ‘Who else would do that?’ he thought.

After having talked and thought about it more, the Strawhats departed again to head to their next destination: Gray Terminal.

They walked through the woods for quite a while until they suddenly hear a loud roar. Usopp shrieked and hid behind Zoro. “Eeek!! Protect me Zoro!!!” he exclaimed.

Zoro growled in annoyance. “Shut up you idiot, protect yourself.” He spoke as he unsheathed his swords, ready for battle if need be.

The ground started shaking as they heard loud stomps coming towards them.

“It’s getting closer.” Sanji said quietly, causing Usopp to shake even more than he already was.

After a few more seconds of standing there, waiting, the trees in front of them were cracked like twigs and fell down. They didn’t fall on their own, they were pushed down.

Usopp turned deathly pale when he saw what was in front of them: A huge, angry-looking tiger. He screamed like a little girl and hid behind a tree that was away from the gigantic animal.

Luffy’s face however, lit up at seeing the large tiger. “Orenji!!!” he exclaimed happily.

The other crewmembers stared at him. “Eh?!!”

“Shishishi, it’s been so long Orenji~” Their captain uttered cheerfully as he got on the tiger’s back with his rubber-powers. “How’ve ya been buddy?”

The tiger, apparently named Orenji, let out a happy, less bloodthirsty-sounding roar. 

Luffy grinned. “Good!”

“Do you know that tiger Luffy-san?” Brook asked.

“Yeah, Ace, Sabo and I met him when we were little and we fed it the Size Size Fruit, so he can change his size whenever he feels like it.” Luffy replied with an indifferent expression on his face, as if all of this was completely normal. (There’s that other Devil Fruit, but that one’s not canon, so I can do this xp)

“You fed the tiger a Devil Fruit?” Nami asked and got a nod from Luffy in reply. The Navigator sweatdropped. “Why did you feed the tiger a Devil Fruit?”

“It seemed fun.”

Nami facepalmed. “Seriously…” she muttered under her breath. Her captain was such an idiot…

Luffy grinned. “Shishishi!”

Chopper’s eyes were gleaming with excitement. “Can I get on Orenji’s back too?!” he asked enthousiastically.

“Of course, we all are!” Luffy replied and stretched his arms, grabbing hold of his crewmates, most of which were surprised by the sudden action. The captain lifted them all off the ground and placed them on the giant tiger’s back behind him. “Let’s go Orenji!” he yelled and the tiger roared before taking off running towards Grey Terminal. 

Luffy laughed loudly while the rest was holding on to the tiger’s fur for dear life, with Nami, Usopp, Chopper and Brook screaming their heads off.

Much faster than they’d expected, they were out of the forest and on the edge of a cliff, giving them a good view of Grey Terminal. Orenji stopped running and let out an almost playful growl. 

Not having realized that they were standing still, Nami, Usopp, Chopper and Brook were still screaming, comical tears running down their cheeks. 

Luffy laughed at them. “You’re so silly you guys!” he commented, making Robin giggle in amusement in the background.

When they heard their captain laugh, the four stopped screaming and looked around them, seeing that they weren’t moving anymore. “Oh…” they uttered in perfect sync.

Nami sat up properly and looked at the big city in front of them. “So that’s Grey Terminal, huh?”

Luffy grinned. “Yep!” he replied. “This place brings back so many memories!” he exclaimed before bending forward, hanging upside down, face to face with Orenji. “Thanks a lot for taking us here Orenji!” 

The tiger let out a happy roar.

“Do you wanna come with us?” the strawhat captain asked his old friend.

The tiger roared again, meaning an obvious yes.

“Okay~!” Luffy exclaimed before sitting upright again and turning to his crew. “Everyone, get off Orenji’s back, he’s gonna shrink!” he told them and jumped onto the ground, soon followed by his crew.

The pirates saw the tiger shrink to the size of a small dog right before their eyes. 

Usopp gaped at the now small tiger. “Woah!!!”

Luffy grinned and pointed towards the city in an heroic pose. “Let’s go!!!” he yelled loudly, the crew agreeing. 

They walked towards the large city, looking around them at all the junk spread all over the place on their way there. Many dirty looking people were digging through the mountains of trash that could be seen outside of the tall walls of the city, looking for something they could use or sell for money.

“Luffy, why are all these people out here? Couldn’t they just live in the city?” Chopper asked, looking up to his captain he admires so much.

“No, they’re too poor to buy a house, so they look for stuff here to get money.” Luffy explained. “Sabo, Ace and I ran around here too, but mostly to steal stuff.”

“Oh, okay.” Chopper reacted. “It’s kind of sad that these people have to live out here.”

Luffy nodded, memories from when he was little playing out before him. He could see his brothers and him running between the piles of trash in front of him as if it was really happening. A small, almost sad smile grew on his face as he looked in front of him while walking towards the city where he’d also created so many memories, both good and bad ones.

Nami noticed her captain staring in front of him, but didn’t say anything and just kept walking. ‘You went through a lot here, didn’t you, Luffy?’ she thought.


	4. The Mystery-Man

The Strawhats entered the city through the large main gates while having the guards stare at them, or more specifically, Luffy. They definitely remembered the child who pretty much terrorized the city with his two brothers.

“So, what are we going to do now?” Nami asked the rest as they walked through the streets of the island’s capital.

Luffy grinned brightly while folding his arms behind his head as he walked. “We go eat of course!” he exclaimed. The captain never let a chance to eat slip away.

“But we just ate…” 

“That was more than an hour ago, I’m hungry again!” Luffy whined, to which his crewmates sighed loudly. They sure weren’t hungry anymore after having recently eaten a whole lot of meat.

When Luffy saw the, to him, priceless looks on his friends’ faces, he burst out laughing. “Hahahahahaha! You guys should see your faces right now!”

Like that, they began disputing on whether they should go eat something, again, or not. Eventually, they came to a compromise: They would walk around for another hour and then they would go eat. Neither Luffy nor his crew was completely satisfied with it, but it was better like this.

They didn’t do much in that one hour, they mainly walked around town, looking at buildings and shops. Luffy was able to tell his crew stories about what Ace, Sabo and he did when they were young at almost every house or shop they passed and that fact made it very clear to the other Strawhats that Luffy caused a whole lot of trouble in Goa, just like he does now on a much bigger scale.

After that hour was over, Luffy lead them all to a restaurant te captain still remembered having really good food, though you couldn’t be sure if it was really good when you thought of how the food-obsessed pirate’s standards were. However, it turned out to be a really good restaurant, like Luffy had claimed, and they all enjoyed their lunch, especially Luffy, who pigged out on mostly the meat, seriously annoying the chef to no end.

Luffy got a good laugh out of it and the crew a big bite out of their funds, which angered Nami a whole lot. After her lecture to Luffy about being frugal with money ended, they continued their way further into the big city. They got closer to the part of the city where the nobility lived, but they couldn’t go in there anyway, since the gate to it was guarded. Normally, Luffy would just fly over the wall without a care in the world, but this time, he didn’t and he seemed quite sad as he looked at the gate, the crew noticed.

‘Must be because of Sabo.’ Nami thought, recalling the story Luffy told her about how his brother was actually part of a noble family who lived in the upper parts of the city.

Suddenly, a scream echoed throughout the streets and all the people nearby stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction where the scream came from. The crew turned their heads as well. They then saw that a man was trying to pull a handbag out of a young woman’s hands. The man ran off and the crew wanted to jump into action, but before they could, another man jumped in front of the thief and hit him in the stomach with a long metal pipe. The robber dropped to the ground, uncounscious, and the unknown person with the pipe picked up the woman’s handbag. He walked up to the young lady and held the nearly stolen bag out to her. “Here you go miss, all safe.” He spoke on a kind tone. The woman smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes, taking the bag back from the ‘saviour’. “Thank you so much sir.” She said shyly. A smile could be seem from under the rim of the man’s top hat. “It was a pleasure.” He responded and walked off again.

“Wow, that’s a really nice guy.” Usopp commented after having seen the scene play out in front of him.

“Yeah, he seems awesome, maybe he wants to join our crew!” Luffy uttered excited. But fors ome reason, a feeling of familiarity went through him. That pipe, that hat…

“Are you going to invite a random stranger into our crew because you saw him return a handbag to a young woman?” Nami asked, not really surprised that her dark haired friend would decide to ask someone to join the crew so easily, it’s how it always went and you could never change his mind.

“Yeah! Let’s follow him!” The young captain answered and ran off in the same direction the unknown man had walked off to, his friends following close behind since they didn’t really have a choice.

The man wearing the top hat walked into a side street. Luffy saw it just in time and took the same turn. He soon reached the person, since he was walking while Luffy had been running. “Hey you!” the raven haired boy exclaimed to get his attention.

The man, who didn’t look that much older than Luffy, turned around to face him right when the other eight Strawhats rounded the corner. A surprised gasp seemed to escape from the unknown hatted man’s mouth, though Luffy didn’t notice because of his obliviousness and excitement. 

Luffy’s face lit up when he saw that he had his attention and he grinned brightly. “I saw you just now, wanna join my crew?” he asked loudly, his voice clear and coated with enthusiasm.

For some reason, the mysterious man chuckled warmly and slightly pulled down the rim of his top hat. “Are you sure you want me? I’m quite the troublemaker.” He spoke. His voice was quite deep. It sounded surprisingly warm and kind, like he’d known the one he was talking to his entire life.

Luffy chuckled as well. “Shishishi, that doesn’t matter, my whole crew is nothing but troublemakers, including me!”

“Ah yes, you are the famous Strawhat Luffy, are you not?” the man said, though judging from his tone, he knew that all along.

“Yeah! I’m going to become Pirate King one day!” 

The man, who the crew just noticed was blonde, smiled under his high hat. “I see, that is quite the interesting dream you have there. A difficult one too.” He reacted. “Make sure to stick to it, no matter what troubles you may face in the future.”

Luffy pumped his fist with a determined look on his face. “Of course, when I start something, I’m not just going to give up on it like it’s nothing.”

The man’s smile grew. “Good.” He said and turned around again, starting to walk away, into the shadows of the small, quiet street.

“Hey, you didn’t answer my question!” Luffy exclaimed when he saw the person walking away from him.

“I’ll give you the answer the next time we meet, and that will be soon, I assure you.” He replied and disappeared.

Luffy stared at the spot on the ground where the mysterious person had just stood before disappearing into thin air. That sure was an interesting guy. “What a weirdo.” Luffy uttered after a few seconds, making his loyal crew facepalm.

“Luffy, do you think we’ll really see that man again?” Chopper asked quietly, still impressed by what had just taken place.

Another grin etched itself onto Luffy’s face. “Of course! He promised, didn’t he?”

“Not everyone keeps their promises you know.” Zoro spoke, an ever present serious look on his face.

“This guy looked like he does!”

“Why do you think so? You couldn’t even see his face besides his mouth.” Nami asked.

“I just do!” Luffy replied as if it was the most logical and legit answer in the whole world, which made his red head navigator sigh loudly.

“Seriously….I wouldn’t be surprised anymore if you ever invited a thief who works for a really dangerous pirate into our crew one day….” Nami muttered, facepalming.

“Isn’t that what you were, Nami?” Usopp commented flatly, earning himself a good punch in the face. He fell to the ground, blood oozing out of his nose.

Chopper ran towards his long-nosed friend, having a semi-panic attack. “AH! USOPP, DON’T DIE!!! SOMEONE GET A DOCTOR, QUICK!!!” he shouted, running around in circles while flailing his arms around everywhere.

Robin giggled and placed a hand on the reindeer’s shoulder, making him stop running. She smiled an amused smile. “Chopper-kun, aren’t you the doctor?” she asked kindly.

Chopper snapped back into reality. “Ah! You’re right!” he uttered and started to treat Usopp’s nose, which was most likely broken.

After that was done, they had dinner in another restaurant and then looked for an inn to spend the night. Lots of talking and having fun later, they decided to head to bed. The guys all shared a large room and Nami and Robin shared another one. The two women had asked Chopper if he wanted to join them, and he wanted to, but the other guys disagreed, finding it unfair that ‘one of their own’ would get to sleep with the girls just because he’s cute, so the guys and girls slept separately.

Luffy, however, laid awake for a while longer than his male roommates. He stared at the ceiling, his arms folded behind his head on the soft pillow. ‘That guy…’ he thought. ‘He reminded me so much of him….’. 

Soon after though, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, they all packed up after being awakened by Brook playing ‘Black Handkerchief of Happiness’ again, which angered the innkeeper, and left the inn for another day in Goa. In the back of their minds, everyone wondered if they’d run into the mysterious man from the day before again. They spent the day pretty much the same way as they did yesterday, but they didn’t have a run-in with the man. The day after that, no sign of him either.

Everyone began to get more and more interested in the mystery-man and his whereabouts. They all came up with their own theories as to who he was. Zoro claimed he was a spy from the World Government, Nami said that he could be a key member of some gang, Usopp stated that he was completely sure the man was a superhero. Sanji claimed him to be a world famous chef who covered his face to keep the paparazzi away, Chopper thought he was a time traveler. According to Robin’s theory the man was a librarian who hid his face because he’s shy, Franky said the young man was an evil scientist and Brook claimed him to be a travelling musician who hid his face because he’s ugly. Luffy hadn’t mouthed a theory to his crewmembers, which the Strawhats found very odd and kind of concerning. They decided to keep it to themselves for the time being, however. 

Little did they know that very soon, they’d meet the mysterious young man again and that that encounter would bring big changes along with it.


	5. Break-In!

A few days after the crew first ran into the ‘mystery-man’, they were walking through the city without much to do.

“I’m bored…” Luffy whined as he walked through the busy, bustling streets.

“Then come up with something, you’re from this island.” Nami reacted logically.

“Hmmm….” Luffy uttered with his ‘thinking face’, which looked more like an ‘I-ate-too-many-lemons-face’. Suddenly, a ‘genius’ idea popped up in his head. “Oh! I know! Let’s go to the upper parts of town to laugh at those weird nobles who wear make-up and walk tiny dogs!” he suggested loudly.

“It’s a weird and stupid idea. I’d definitely refuse if I wasn’t bored either, but since I am, sure, let’s go.” Nami responded.

“But how are we going to get there? Isn’t it for nobles only?” Chopper asked curiously.

“We just go over the wall, duh.” Luffy answered flatly.

“Won’t they notice if we just climb over that huge wall, Luffy?” Usopp asked.

“Who cares if they notice? It’ll be more fun that way!” Luffy exclaimed loudly. “Let’s go!” he uttered, grabbed all his friends with his arms, using his Devil Fruit powers, and launched himself over the huge walls surrounding the upper levels, taking his crew with him.

They flew over the walls, Chopper, Usopp and Nami screaming while tightly keeping their eyes shut, and landed on the roof of a house. The impact caused some of the orange rooftiles to crack.

“Did any of the guards see us?” Sanji wondered out loud as they were all put down by Luffy, though he wouldn’t mind being spotted. They could get a fight out of that, and fighting was always fun, unless it’s with women. Sanji would never dare harm a beautiful lady.

“I don’t think so, or else they would’ve already been upon us, don’t you agree?” Brook responded as he scanned the area.

“Wow, the people living here must be really rich…” Nami uttered while looking around. Then, an infamous spark could be seen in her eyes. “Maybe we can steal some of their money, it’s not like they’ll miss it, they have more than enough of it.” she uttered with a smirk on her face.

“What do we need money for?” Luffy asked dumbly, earning himself a vicious glare from the crew’s navigator.

“For many things!” Nami protested irritated, not yet dropping her glare. Her smirk then reappeared, knowing just what to say to get Luffy on board for her idea. “You need money to buy food.”

Luffy’s eyes shone the moment he heard the word ‘food’. Well, if it’s for food…how could he refuse? “Sure, let’s go steal stuff.” He agreed quickly.

“No, we’re not going to steal from others Luffy!” Usopp reacted suddenly. “Just do what you originally wanted to do here and-“ he started, but he saw something approaching them and shrieked loudly. “We’ve been found!” he panicked, pointing at the guards running to the house they were standing on.

Luffy laughed loudly. “Let’s go have some fun with those guys!”

Zoro smirked. “Hm, sounds like a good idea, captain.”

“But we’ll just get into more trouble by doing that!” Usopp protested, not feeling like fighting the many guards that we’re now surrounding the house, but no one listened to the sniper as they all jumped down from the roof and started fighting the guards down below. “Ah! Wait for me you guys!” Usopp called out loudly and followed his crewmates, not wanting to be left behind.

It soon turned into quite the large-scale fight with so many guards, but the Straw Hat pirates easily beat them all up, badly. Soon after, reinforcements arrived, but before the Straw Hats could beat them up as well, a man jumped in between the two groups. It was the mystery-man from a few days earlier.

“Hey! It’s you!” Luffy uttered with a big, goofy smile on his face.

“People, people, don’t fight or more will get hurt.” The man with the top hat spoke up, sounding more amused than anything else.

“These pirates, these criminals, illegally entered the upper levels!” One of the guards, seeming to be the one who’s in charge, responded, sounding quite frustrated by the sudden interruption.

“I’m the one who is responsible for these people, they belong with me.” The mysterious man said, surprising the Straw Hats a great deal, but they tried not to show that on their faces. If this man was helping them out, they should try their best at not getting found out.

“Can we see any kind of identification, sir?” the guard asked, walking up to the top hat-wearing man.

“But of course, my good sir.” The unknown person replied calmly, reaching into the inner pocket of his coat. He took out some kind of document and handed it to the guard.

The leading guard took a close look at the paper before looking up to the man in front of him again. “Could you please remove your hat so we can verify your identity?”

“Ah, it seems this will be quite the reveal then, my hat hides my face quite well, as you can see.” The mysterious man, who was apparently a noble, uttered, but he nodded in agreement nonetheless and removed his large hat.

When the man removed his head, his blonde hair could be seen more clearly. It was quite long, reaching to around halfway his neck, and wavy. Since he was standing with his back to them, the Straw Hats couldn’t see the person’s face. 

The guard nodded at the man. “Alright, our apologies for the troubles caused, sir.” He said and he and the other guards walked off, taking the wounded with them.

The noble who’d helped the Straw Hat crew out chuckled, still standing with his back turned towards them. “You’re still an expert at causing trouble, Luffy, you didn’t change at all did you?” he spoke and turned around to face the pirates. He then smiled kindly. “How’ve you been?”

Luffy’s eyes widened when he saw just who was standing in front of him. The mysterious man….was Sabo… How? Wasn’t Sabo dead? “S-sabo?” he brought out.

Sabo’s smile grew as he nodded. “Yeah, it’s me Luffy. It’s been a while, huh?”

Tears started running down Luffy’s cheeks. Sabo was here! He was alive! “Sabo!!!” he yelled and tackled his ‘brother’ in a hug, making them both fall on the ground.

Sabo laughed lightly and returned the hug. “It’s great to see you Luffy, have you been taking good care of yourself?”

“H-HMMMM!!!” was all Luffy could utter as he sobbed.

The rest of the Straw Hat crew looked on with confused looks on their faces. “Eh?” they uttered simultaneously. But then, realisation hit them. Was this the Sabo Luffy had told them about?! He was alive?!

Sabo looked up to the group with an apologetic smile on his face as Luffy clung to him. “Heheh, sorry for confusing you all.” He apologized.

“Oh no, it’s fine, we know who you are.” Nami reacted. “Didn’t you die a long time ago?” she asked.

“As you can see, I didn’t. It’s a long story.” Sabo replied. “I’ll explain once Luffy has calmed down.”

The crew nodded. A little while later, Luffy had finally calmed down, so they headed to a small café and there, Sabo started to explain why he hadn’t died tragically all those years ago.

“Well, I don’t really have much more to tell you than that I was rescued and my wounds were taken care of. I had to be taken back to my parents, unfortunately.” Sabo explained, a cup of tea in his hands.

“Don’t you like it here?” Nami asked. “But you have so much here, why wouldn’t you want to be here?”

“Money doesn’t make one happy, unlike what many people seem to think.” Sabo responded, looking at Nami with a serious look on his face. “I can’t constantly go where I want, I can’t eat what I want, I can’t even love or marry who I want. I simply can’t do what I want, I am constantly ordered around by my parents and I am forced to succeed my father as the owner of our family’s company.”

“Oh…” Nami uttered, her expression saddening slightly. “I didn’t know that…”

“Why didn’t you just run away?” Usopp asked, slightly confused. If Sabo hated his life as a noble so much, why didn’t he run away again? It didn’t HAVE to be to sea, he could have just run to Fuusha village or something, right? 

“I wanted to, I really did, but I couldn’t.” Sabo responded, smiling sadly.

“Why not?” Robin then asked.

“After the incident, my parents assigned bodyguards to watch me 24/7, I didn’t have a chance of getting away again.”

“Then how about now? I didn’t see anyone with you and you’re an adult so you can decide for yourself right?” 

“I’ve been preparing to finally get out of here, actually. I’ve been secretly stealing money from my parents, bit by bit so they wouldn’t notice, I’ve also been studying up on navigation and a few other things to get me started.” Sabo said with a much happier smile. He then turned to look at Luffy. “I wanted to go out and look for you, but it seems you found me first.”

Luffy grinned brightly. “Yeah!” he replied. “Hey, Sabo?” he then spoke up again after a minute of silence.

“Yes, Luffy?” Sabo responded, looking at his little brother again.

“Wanna join my crew?” Luffy asked, his grin growing even more.

Sabo couldn’t help but grin as well. “Of course!” he responded, to which the crew smiled.

“Yohohohoho! Welcome to the crew Sabo-san!” Brook uttered.

“Yeah, we’ll have lots of fun!” Usopp agreed.

“If you’re still interested in navigation, I’ll teach you what I know.” Nami suggested with a smile.

“Ow! We have a cool new crewmate now!” Franky exclaimed. “It’s SUUUUPERRRRR!” he called out, doing his ‘famous’ pose.

Zoro smirked. “Heh, let’s see what this guy can do.”

“Yay, we have another friend!” Chopper uttered happily.

“As long as he leaves Nami-swan and Robin-chwan alone, I don’t mind having a new crewmate at all.” Sanji spoke with a smirk on his face.

“Fufufufufu, how interesting.” Robin said, more to herself than anything else.

“Awesome! Let’s go back to the Sunny you guys!!!” Luffy shouted loudly, to which the crew and Sabo agreed with equal loudness, earning strange looks from the snobby people in the café.

The group of ten left the café and first went to Sabo’s house so he could grab his things while the Straw Hats waited outside, which was easy because his parents were out and Sabo had become good at avoiding the guards over the years. They then left the upper levels, which was easy thanks to Sabo. They walked through and out of the city, to Grey Terminal. There, Orenji jumped out of Luffy’s pocket, where he had been all day, and grew back to his original huge size. Once everyone had climbed on the giant tiger’s back, he ran off, through the forest and to the mountain bandits’ hut.

Sabo smiled when they arrived at the old hut. “It’s been a while since I’ve last come here, I was never able to go through the entire forest since the incident.” He said as he climbed off Orenji’s back and landed on the soft grass.

Luffy grinned and looked up to Orenji once everyone had gotten off the creature’s back. “Thanks for helping us out Orenji! I’ll come see you again some day!”

The huge tiger let out a happy growl and headed back into the forest.

Luffy went to the door of the cabin and kicked the door in, not really feeling like knocking. “Oi!!! Dadan, we’re back!!!” he yelled.

“SHUT UP YOU LITTLE SHIT!!! DON’T KICK IN THE DOOR YOU BRAT!!!” Dadan shouted as she stomped up to Luffy and gave him a good punch in the head.

Luffy looked up to Dadan with a big pout. “Mean…”

“Like I care!” Dadan reacted irritated. She looked up and glared fiercely when she heard a chuckle. Then, she saw who she was glaring at. “Sabo?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah! You haven’t changed at all either, have you Dadan?” Sabo asked with an amused look on his face.

“I thought you were dead.”

“I’m not, as you can clearly see.” Sabo responded.

Dadan let out a sigh. “You three always made weird things happen, I’m almost not surprised anymore…” she grumbled and walked back further into the cabin.

After the group said goodbye to Dadan and the other mountainbandits, they walked to Fuusha Village. They immediately went to Partys Bar to say goodbye to Makino. 

When they entered the pub, they were loudly greeted by the villagers having a drink there. Makino looked up and was shocked to see Sabo with the Straw Hat crew. She smiled widely with some tears prickling in the corners of her eyes. “Welcome back Sabo-kun.” She said kindly. Sure, she hadn’t really known Sabo all that well, only seeing him when she visited, but the bartender was mostly emotional because she was just so happy for Luffy since he now at least had one brother left.

Sabo returned the smile and nodded. “Thank you, Makino-san, I am very happy to be back.”

Makino nodded as well and turned to Luffy. “And? Did you have fun in the city?” she asked kindly.

“We did have fun at first, but it got boring after a while…” Luffy whined with a pout on his face, making Makino giggle, holding her hand in front of her mouth.

“I see, so what will you be doing now then?” the dark haired woman asked.

“We actually came to say goodbye ‘cause we’re heading out!” Luffy replied with a big grin on his face.

“Ah, I expected something like that, you can never stay in the same place for too long.” Makino reacted, a smile growing back on her face. “Alright, make sure to be careful then, though I’m sure your friends and Sabo-kun will take care of that, keeping you from doing too dangerous, reckless things.”

“Shishishi, all I do is looking for adventures Makino!”

“Still, don’t pull too big stunts okay? You’ll worry me to death.” Makino uttered while cleaning a beer mug.

The crew laughed lightly. “I’ll make sure to keep an extra good eye on him, Makino-san.” Sabo assured the bartender with a wink.

Makino’s smile grew as she nodded. She knew that Sabo and Luffy’s crew would take good care of the reckless captain.

Sanji swooned closer to Makino. “Ah, I’ll miss you terribly Makino-swan!”

Makino giggled a bit uncomfortably. “Heheh, I’ll miss you as well, Sanji-san…” she uttered awkwardly, nearly making Sanji faint because she said she’d miss him too.

After the other crewmembers said their goodbyes as well, the pirate crew left the bar and headed for the Thousand Sunny. On their way there, many villagers wished Luffy and the others good luck on their journey.

Sabo gawked as he looked up to the Thousand Sunny. “Wow Luffy, that’s quite the amazing ship you have there.”

Franky grinned proudly. “Ow! I am honoured that you find it so impressive! I worked really hard on the Sunny, my pride and joy!”

Luffy grinned happily. “Wait until ya see the inside!” he exclaimed and grabbed his brother’s wrist, dragging him onto the ship. He stopped dragging Sabo along when they were on deck.

“Is this actual grass?” Sabo asked surprised. A grass deck? You definitely don’t see that every day. The ex-noble crouched down and felt the soft green grass with his hand. “This really is grass…that’s really something…” he muttered amazed.

Sabo stood up again and looked around for a bit. He saw a tree with a swing attached to it, a flowerbed further back above the cabin, as well as another bed with all kinds of plants and herbs and also a tangerine tree. Another notable thing he saw was a hatch of some kind. He walked up to it and looked at the Straw Hats. “What’s under this hatch?” he asked them out of curiosity.

“Open up and you’ll see!” Usopp replied enthusiastically.

Sabo nodded and opened the hatch. He was really surprised when he saw that under the hatch was water, and fish. “A tank?” he asked.

“Yeah! We catch fish from the ocean, put them in there and later catch them again and cook them up for food!” Usopp explained. “You can see them better in the aquarium bar.”

“Aquarium bar?” Sabo asked astonished. “Just what kind of ship is this? The ship of a Celestial Dragon?”

Luffy laughed. “Of course not silly! We just have the best ship ever!”

Sabo smiled. “I see, you must really love this ship then.”

The entire crew nodded in response.

After that, they continued showing Sabo around on the Sunny, and the blonde kept being surprised over and over again. The Thousand Sunny’s a unique ship, that’s for sure. 

After the tour, Sabo put his stuff away and everyone got the ship ready for departure. As they sailed off to sea, the sunset coloured the land and sea an orange-like yellow.

Sabo looked at Goa, which was getting further and further away, seeming to become smaller and smaller. The young man smiled warmly. This was the beginning of a new chapter in his life, and he knew it would be fantastic with many adventures to come.

TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
